Madison Square Garden History
Madison Square Garden, also simply known as "the Garden", takes its name from the junction where the first two incarnations of the venue were located in New York City. Madison Square was on Madison Avenue at 26th Street, and here the first version of the now legendary stadium rose from the Manhattan ground and began its story. Despite being later moved to different spots in the city, the venue kept its original name, though there is no sign of a garden or a square in the area today.
The Original Garden, now known as Madison Square Garden I, was the former passenger depot of the New York and Harlem Railroad on Madison Street. Celebrated circus mogul P.T. Barnum bought and converted the terminal when the railroad depot was moved to Grand Central Terminal in 1871. Barnum transformed the place into a hippodrome called "Barnum's Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome." Later, it was renamed "Gilmore's Garden" after America's famous bandleader of the time, Patrick S. Gilmore. At this point the Garden was an uncovered venue.
Millionaire William Henry Vanderbilt named Gilmore's Garden "Madison Square Garden" and threw open the doors once again, in 1879. The location at 26th Street and Madison Avenue had already seen some serious changes by now, and the place had achieved some degree of fame in New York and the country.
The Second Madison Square Garden (known as Madison Square Garden II), still located at 26th and Madison Avenue, was designed by Stanford White. The venue enjoyed the status of New York City's second tallest building. The main hall was the largest in the world, and contained permanent seating for 8,000 people with room for many thousands more.
The Third Garden (known as Madison Square Garden III) built at the corner of 50th Street and Eighth Avenue was dubbed "The House That Tex Built", having been the brainchild of boxing promoter Tex Rickard.
The Barnum circus forced the New York Rangers to play all games on the road at this time, such was the circus' importance. As late as the era of the fourth Garden, Rangers games were still shunted to a late 9:00 p.m. kick-off, so the circus could be concluded comfortably.
Madison Square Garden III was principally a boxing venue, and saw numerous near-mythic bouts between some of the best fighters in the world. The Garden played host to the only indoor bout in the career of boxing giant Jack Dempsey. The structure during this era was quite nonedescript, and earned notoriety for its plainness, in everything from its architecture to the signage above the door, which was often an abbreviated version of forthcoming events, with words appearing in cryptic, oddly configured forms.
The New York Rangers hockey team occupied The Garden from 1926 to 1968, and the New York Rangers hockey team were primary tenants from 1926 to 1968.
MSG hosted no less than seven NCAA men's basketball championships between 1943 and 1950, as well as the NBA All-Star Games of 1954 and 1955.
These days, the Garden is responsible for a huge 320 events a year, serving as home to the New York Knicks basketball team and New York Rangers hockey team. The Garden also hosted the NFL Draft for a number of years until the draft moved to the fabled Radio City Music Hall, itself leased from MSG. Madison Square Garden's close association with the world's top rated sporting teams and individuals continues unabated as this gleaming arena grows in the hearts of Americans and beyond to the rest of the world.